Pallet



B. l. ULINSKI Jan. 1l, 1955 PALLET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 19, 1951 RK mw mu. Y WU E IL N s M N M /my H 25B f 5 n/:n /J l in.. um n a. no: g m ala Jan. 11, 1955 B. l. ULINSKI PALLET 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 19, 1951 l I INVENTOR. BRON/SLHL/s Fi TTOH/VEY 2,699,309 Patented Jan. 11, 1955 PALLET Bronislaus I. Ulinsk, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Yale a Towne Manufacturing Company, Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application January 19, 1951, Serial No. 206,735 3 Claims. (Cl. 24S- 120) This invention relates to load handling apparatus and more particularly to a novel pallet of the class used for supporting loads adapted to be handled by lift trucks.

Another form, t short legs or stringers attached to the lower side of the platform for spacing it from the ground. This spacing must be suflicient to admit the forks of a lift truck, which may then be brought into lifting engagement with the under side of the platform.

up the pallet. receive the boards freely in one position, and when thc boards are shifted into another position in the apertures they will interlock with the structural members.

, members securely so as to prevent collapse of the pallet. However, any or all of the boards may be easily removed by reversing the process of assembly, thus facilitating replacement of damaged boards spaces that occur when the pallets are constructed to accommodate lifting forks. Storage space will also be conserved in a horizontal sense because the absence or forks on the truck will permit the truck to approach and engage the pallet in narrower aisles than would be possible if it were necessary to approach the pallet with a relatively long, rigid fork. As a further development of this fea support wings are so arranged as to stabilize light or slippery loads which exhibit a tendency to shift laterally while being carried upon a allet. p As another feature, the spacing of the support wings may be changed as may be desired in order to accommocontribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional feathatwill be described which will the designing of other structures for carrying out the several purposes of my invention. It is important, therethat the claims to be granted me shall be of suicient breadth to prevent the appropriation of my invention by those skilled in the art.

Referring now to the drawings:

Fig. l is a side view showing a preferred form of my novel pallet as it would appear when engaged by the attruck in readiness to lift pallet and a load thereon, and also showing other positions of the attachment members and pallet in broken lines.

Fig. 2 is a plan View showing the pallet engaged by the attachment members on the lifting carriage of the truck.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the pallet, partly broken away to show the construction of the support wings.

Fig. 4 is a partial side View of the same, on a larger scale, illustrating the manner in which one of the boards would be moved for interlocking it with the support wings.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a side View of one of the attachment members.

Fig. 7 is a front View showing the pair of attachment members.

As will be seen in the drawing, my improved pallet is indicated generally by the numeral lil, and comprises a series of horizontal floor boards 11 arranged transversely lifting the pallet and a load L thereon.

The support wings 12, 13 have a substantially trapezoidal shape with a horizontal lower edge coextensive with the series of boards ll, and an inclined upper edge terminating at a vertical rear edge to form an upper corner located approximately above the rear edge of the series of boards. The body of each of the support wings 12, 13 is provided by a sheet metal member 14 which is reinloop 16 at the upper corner of each wing as a means whereby the truck T may establish lifting engagement with the pallet 10, as will be described hercinafter.

The floor boards 11 are assembled with the support wings 12, 13 through a novel construction wherein a horizontal series of regularly spaced apertures 17 is formed in each of the body members 14 of the support wings closely adjacent the lower edge thereof. The apertures 17 are'arranged throughout the length of the wings l2., 13, and corresponding apertures are aligned as between the respective wings so that when opposite end portions of the boards ll are inserted into the proper apertures the boards will provide a substantially continuous platform extending from one end of thc wings to the other, as may best be seen in Figs. 2 and 3.

As an important feature of my invention, however'. means is provided for interlocking the boards with the Wings so as to prevent accidental separation thereof, and also holding the boards and the wings in a fixed relation-- ship when in their assembled positions. lt will be seen that the floor boards 11 are wider than the apertures 17, and that opposite end portions of the boards are provided at their edges with opposed pairs of kerfs or slots 18, each slot being of a width sucient to receive the thick.-

ness of the body members 14 at opposite edges of the apertures, and of a suicient depth to permit the boards to assume a horizontal position at the bottoms of the apertures. This arrangement, because of the substantial thickness of the boards 11 and the substantial depth of the slots 18, will not only maintain the boards and the support wings at right angles to cach other in a horizontal sense, but will also hold the wings in vertical positions.

In order to permit the floor boards 11 to be assembled and adjusted with respect to the support wings 12, 13, the upper portions of the apertures 17 are enlarged in such a way as to accommodate the full width of the boards, thus permitting longitudinal movement of each board in the apertures when disposed in a certain position. ln the preferred form, the apertures 17 have top edges 19 that are so located that the greatest aperture dimension is in a vertical direction adjacent the rear edge of the aperture, or in other words, at the edge which will be located toward the truck T. This large vertical dimension is sufficient to accommodate the floor boards 11 when disposed on edge, as illustrated in full lines in Fig. 4, and the narrowest dimension of the apertures is disposed horizontally at the lower edge thereof, this narrow dimension being just sufficient to receive the boards at the locations of the slots 18. Preferably, the rearward edge of each aperture 17 has a rearward curve as shown at 20 in Fig. 4, in order to facilitate the passage of the floor boards 11 downwardly through an inclined position as indicated at 11a in Fig. 4, to their fully assembled position indicated at 11b, as will be further described.

When the boards 11 are in their assembled positions in the wings 12, 13, they will be disposed flatwise against horizontal bottom anges 21 which are formed by turning a lower edge portion of each body member 14 in a lateral apertures 17. It will be observed that the flanges 21 not only provide flat bearing surfaces for the boards 11, but will also facilitate insertion and removal of the boards in the apertures 17 because of the fact that the flanges 21 present surfaces which are too wide to interfere with longitudinal movement of the boards by entering the slots 18 when the boards are turned on edge.

The loads which are to be carried by the pallet may be placed upon the boards 11 either between the wings 12, 13 or outwardly thereof. This is an important feature of my invention, since it permits the most eicient utilization of space upon the pallet. Accordingly, the pairs of oppose slots 18 are duplicated at other points along the length of the boards 11 as the slots 18a, 18h and 18e, for example, all of the slots being aligned as respective boards so that the wings 12 and 13 may be interlocked with the boards in various spaced relationships. Therefore, the wings 12, 13 may be so spaced as to receive between them loads of a predetermined width with a minimum of clearance or waste space, while a tional loads may be placed upon the boards outwardly of the wings.

The truck T for carrying the pallet suitable type having a lifting carriage 22, and preferably is of the type that carries a Vertical front plate 23 for vertical movement upon uprights 24 at ,the front of the truck. ln order to adapt the lifting carriage 22 for engaging and carrying the pallet 10, provision is made of a pair of attachment members 25, 26, termed hooks because of their function, and mounted for lateral adjustment upon the front plate 23. The attachment members are in the form of bars, the rear sides of which are so shaped as to provide upper and lower lugs 27 28 adapted to engage around the upper and lower edges of the front plate 23 and thus support the attachment members in vertical positions while permitting lateral adjustment of said members. The attachment members 25, 26 have upper end portions 29 which project above the front plate 23 when said members are mounted thereon and which are tapered to provide inclined rear surfaces 30 so as to facilitate the entrance of said upper end portions into the lops 16 of the pallet upon lifting movement of the truck carriage 22. It will be noted at this point that the overall length of each attachment member 25, 26 is somewhat less than the height of the upper extremity of the loops 16 when the pallet 10 is resting upon the ground, so that the truck T may lower the attachment members to a position, indicated by broken lines in Fig. l, which will permit them to pass under the loops 16.

It will be understood that the attachment members 25,

may be of any between the ddi- 26 will be so adjusted in a lateral direction upon the front plate 23 that the spacing of the tapered upper end portions 29 will correspond to the spacing of the loops 16 of the support wings 12, 13. The attachment members 25, 26 will be secured in their adjusted positions by upper and lower set screws 31, 32 for clamping the front plate 23. The set screws are located in the attachment members opposite the upper lug 27, and in the lower lug 28, respectively, and therefore are not required to carry the weight of the pallet.

Because of the weight of the pallet and the load thereon, the inclined rear surfaces 30 at the upper ends of the attachment members 25, 26, will, of course, tend to draw the rear edges of the support wings 12, 13 into abutting engagement with the front surfaces of the attachment members, so that the pallet 10 will be maintained in a horizontal position while it is carried by the truck. In order to maintain a proper relationship between the support wings and the attachment members, and to avoid any accidental misalignment during transportation, the lower portions of the attachment members 25, 26 are provided at their outer edges with forwardly projecting guide lingers 33. Thus, the guide fingers 33 will effectively coniine the pallet against lateral deflection while it is supported by the truck.

In preparing my improved pallet for use, the iirst step will be to determine the proper spacing of the support wings 12, 13. For purposes of illustration, we may assume that the lloor boards 11 are four feet long and that the pairs of slots 18b are located at approximately the one-third points of the boards. If it is desired, for example, to handle loads made up of boxes or other articles having a dimension of approximately one foot, three inches, it will be seen that two of the boxes will readily t laterally between the support wings when inter-locked with the boards at the slots 18h, while two additional boxes of the same size may be placed upon the boards outwardly of the support wings. Having determined the desired relationship of the parts, the support wings 12, 13 will be placed in a vertical position and one of the boards 11 inserted longitudinally in an edgewise position in a pair of aligned apertures 17 of the respective support wings, as illustrated in full lines in Fig. 4. The support wings will then be adjusted toward or away from each other if necessary until the pairs of slots 18h are aligned with the edges of the apertures. The board will then be turned downwardly through the position 11a, in which the edges of the apertures are received in the slots, and then downwardly into at bearing engagement with the bottom flange 21. The rearwardly curved edges 20 of the apertures will assist this operation by affording additional clearance for the slotted portions of the board in the intermediate position 11a. This procedure will be repeilted with each of the boards 11, so as to complete the pa et.

-The attachment members 25, 26 will then be engaged with the front plate 23 of the lifting carriage 22 and adjusted to a spacing equidistant with the spacing of the support wings 12, 13, whereupon the set screws 31, 32 will be tightened to secure the members in place. After a load has been placed upon the pallet 10, the truck T will be maneuvered to bring the attachment members 25, 26 beneath the loops 16 and against the rear edges of the support wings, and the lifting carriage 22 will be raised to engage the attachment members in the loops, whereupon .further upward movement of the lifting carriage will lift the pallet so that it may be transported to the desired location.

It will be understood that the various rows of slots 18, 18a, 18b and 18C will permit the spacing of the support wings to be readily varied in order to accommodate etiiciently loads of different widths, the spacing of the attachment members 25, 26 being adjusted accordingly. Whatv ever the spacing of the support wings, it has been found that they have a stabilizing effect on the load, this feature being particularly valuable when loads of a light or slippery nature are being handled.

My improved pallet construction will permit the loaded pallet to be stacked for storage purposes, and when so stacked will be economical of space in a vertical sense. Thus, referring to Fig. l by way of illustration, it will be seen that a similarly loaded pallet may be stacked upon the load L, and the vertical space taken up by the pallet itself will be little more than the thickness of the floor boards 11. Also, because of the fact that the use of liftopposed structural members in alignment with said other line and spanning the space between said structural members, said series of oor boards being slotted to accommodate said structural .members whereby said boards position in said apertures to form n us Hoor for the pallet, means on said opposed spaced verwhen in said horizontal position, and said oor boards through said slots interlocking with each of said structural members when said boards position in said apertures whereby to join the oor boards and structural members relatively to one another to form a complete pallet.

3. In a pallet of the class described, a pair o f opposed horizontal position n said apertures whereby to join the floor boards and structural members relatively to one another to form a complete pallet.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,266,206 Jackson et al Dec. 16, 1941 2,272,227 Thomas Feb. 10, 1942 2,412,184 Vlinski Dec. 3, 1946 2,450,432 Lehrman Oct. 5, 1948 2,552,982 Lambert May 15, 1951 

